THE inner ring road through York city centre was blocked by flooding and buildings inundated, following this morning's thunderstorm.

A stretch of Fishergate between Castle Mills Bridge and the Barbican was covered by about a foot of floodwater, with police on standby.

The flash flood caused roads around the city to become gridlocked, but the situation is now starting to ease and traffic is flowing more easily.

Yorkshire Water are to check sewers for damage after the deluge, they have confirmed, and will be visiting people who have been in touch about flooding.

Letting rooms at the back of the Masons Arms which were badly flooded in late 2015 and then refurbished have been flooded again, along with the car park, said a member of staff, Mike Pickering.

He said drains in the street appeared unable to cope. "It's absolutely disgusting," he said. "The water came down the car park like a river."

He understood that a woman's bedroom in a neighbouring building had also been flooded.

Lynette Mills, who lives on the top floor of a block next to the Mason's Arms, said dirty water streamed out of a blocked drain into ground floor communal areas.

She couldn't open the front door onto the street, she said, and water flowed right through her building, and through the garden down to the river.

Lynette said she was angry with the reponse from Yorkshire Water, but she praised City of York Council for "stepping in" to unblock drains and clean up the street and inside her building.

Yorkshire Water said pumps at Castle Mills were brought into action to try and clear the water, to the relieve the pressure on the drainage system.

Flood risk engineer Eve Pierrepoint said they had been responding to customers who had been in touch about flash flooding, and would soon be out to check assets and clean up.

She added: “We’ll be checking the sewers with our special cameras to see if there are any blockages or defects that have been caused by the heavy rainfall. We’ll also visit customers who’ve contacted us about the flooding.

“Our sewers are designed with capacity to cater for rainfall, however in
rare instances such as this where there is very heavy rainfall in a short
space of time, certain points on our sewers become full and can’t hold all
of the storm water.”

A spokesman for the Peasholme Centre for homeless people in Fishergate said a small amount of floodwater came through the front door before staff were able to block it with a temporary flood barrier, which prevented any serious damage.

The flooding followed torrential rain which fell as a storm passed through the city at about 10.30am.

"We are also working closely with City of York Council and the
Environment Agency."

Marc Bichtemann from First York posted this image of a bus travelling through the floodwater.

North Yorkshire Police have issued an urgent notice to say Fishergate in York is currently closed to traffic and pedestrians due to the flash floods.

"Highways managing the closure".

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said firefighters had been called to reports of a flooded property in Malton and Scarborough, but said no crews had been called out to properties in York at this point.

Motorists have been complaining of lengthy delays, with one driver from Woodthorpe reporting a two-and-a-half hour journey into the city centre.

The severe rain and flooding has also affected areas of The Grand Hall, at Scarborough Spa Orchestra. Organisers have cancelled this evening's performance due to safety reasons.

"Our box office will contact Orchestra patrons who have purchased tickets in advance to offer them a full refund or to exchange tickets for a future performance within the next 24 hours," said a spokesman, apologising for any inconvenience.

"A decision on whether Magic Mike’s & Bernie Clifton’s shows will go ahead this evening will be made shortly once we have made an assessment on the performance areas".

The Scarborough Spa box office can be contacted via (01723) 821888 or by emailing: spaenquiries@siv.org.uk

*If you have any pictures of today's flooding, please email them to newsdesk@thepress.co.uk

More to follow.